When thinking of ways to assist the poor, offering free breast augmentation or reduction surgery is probably not the first thing to come to mind, but that didn’t stop health department officials in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu from doing it.

Most governments are tackling poverty problems the old fashioned way, trying to make sure that unprivileged citizens have access to food, water, a place to live and basic healthcare. The Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, is taking a slightly different approach, becoming the first state in the world to offer free cosmetic breast surgery to both impoverished women and men. These procedures are currently funded by the state health department, but authorities are trying to get health insurance providers on board to cover them as well.

An unnamed Thai woman has shared photos of a botched nose job online to warn others not to undergo the risky procedure without first doing some research on the clinic. She underwent surgery in Thailand’s southern city of Hat Yai at an unidentified clinic offering cheap rhinoplasty.

The procedure involved inserting a silicone implant, similar to those used in breast enhancement surgery, into her nose with the intention of creating a more pronounced look. The woman suffered an infection which caused massive inflammation at the site of the operation. Her body was rejecting the procedure, and shockingly, the implant began to emerge from the skin above her nose. She went back to the clinic seeking help, but they refused her, saying to the local media that it ‘took no responsibility’ for the botched job and ‘refused to help her.’

A 22-year-old woman from Hong Kong has undergone over 30 plastic surgery procedures in a bid to impress her boyfriend. Berry Ng began getting the procedures when she was only 17, as she wanted to look more like western supermodels. She now regrets her decisions.

Berry NG claims that her plastic surgery addiction began when she saw a beauty center offering affordable student packages that cost HKD 799 (102 USD) for three injections. However, over the course of a few hours, the beautician persuaded her to go for a more expensive package costing HKD 17,000 (2175 USD). Berry was so pleased with the results that she began to seek more treatments and soon found herself addicted to cosmetic surgery. However, things got even worse when she was 20 years old and entered into a romantic relationship with a man nine years her senior.

Sahar Tabar, a 19-year-old woman from Iran, has been the talk of the internet over the last couple of days due to her zombie-like appearance, which is a apparently the result of dozens of cosmetic procedures meant to make her look like Angelina Jolie.

We live in a world where super fans often go under the knife to make themselves look like their idols, but whereas most end up with doll-like features, Teheran-based Sahar Tabar looks like a real-life character out of a Tim Burton animation. She has in fact been compared to the “Corpse Bride”, and looking at some of her Instagram photos, you can see that the comparison actually makes sense. It’s obvious that the 19-year-old uses makeup and creepy contact lenses to enhance her undead look, but those prominent cheekbones, inflated lips and plastic-like nose seem to be her real features.

A woman in Thailand was left unable to recognize her 22-year-old son after he underwent a drastic plastic surgery makeover in South Korea for a popular television show. Looking at the man’s before and after pictures, who can really blame her?

Noppajit Monlin, a 22-year-old factory worker from Thailand, had always been ashamed of his twisted jaw, blemished complexion and his other facial imperfections. At work, he avoided his colleagues as much as possible, eating his lunch alone, instead of joining them, for fear of being laughed at or having to put up with their stares. So when he got selected for the Thai edition of “Let Me In”, a popular South Korean TV show that focuses on extreme plastic surgery transformations, he knew he had a chance to drastically change his life for the better.

Photos of three Chinese women allegedly stuck in a South Korean airport, because their passports no longer match their faces following plastic surgery, have been doing the rounds on Chinese social media.

South Korean plastic surgery clinics are renowned as some of the best in the world, so it’s no surprise that women from other Asian countries, like China and Japan, regularly fly to South Korea to get work done on their faces. The problem is that few of them stop at nose jobs, face lifts and Botox injections. Instead, they completely remodel their faces, making it difficult for airport personnel to identify them from their passport photo.

Amirul Rizwan Musa, a 21-year-old entrepreneur from Malaysia, has recently come under fire in his home country for spending tens of thousands of dollars on plastic surgery that left him looking like a real-life anime character.

Amirul, better known by his online name, Miyyo Rizone, became the target of criticism from many of his countrymen, after photos showing his radical transformation went viral on social media, last weekend. The fact that some media outlets reported that he had undergone numerous cosmetic surgery procedures in order to become a living Ken doll, didn’t help things either, and now he’s asking people to stop condemning and dehumanizing him for his choices.

Luis Padron, a 25-year-old fantasy fan and cosplay enthusiast from Argentina, has spent tens of thousands of dollars altering his looks in his desire to become a real-life elf.

Luis says he became obsessed with fantastic beings like elves and angels after being bullied as a child. He used to get picked on because he dyed his hair and had a different dress style than most boys his age, and since he didn’t have many friends growing up, he spent all of his free time reading fantasy books and dressing as his favorite characters. By the end of high-school, his unusual looks and natural quirkiness let to him becoming admired, and that just fueled his desire to be different. Now, he’s trying to make the changes permanent with the help of cosmetic medical procedures.

A bizarre beauty craze has been sweeping Thailand for the last 5 years, with women spending thousands of dollars to have their upper lip reshaped as buffalo horns. Known as “krachap lips”, the cosmetic procedure is apparently only popular in Thailand.

Named after the water chestnut or buffalo nut – known as krachap in Thailand – because of its shape, which resembles a buffalo head or a flying bat, the controversial cosmetic procedure has become increasingly popular among young women over the last four or five years. It’s unclear how the trend began, but posts on the plastic surgery internet forum Dungdong reveal that people had been talking about the bow-like upper lip shape as early as 2009, in a desire to copy the look of actress Patcharapa “Aum” Chaichua. But it’s been getting worse in the last couple of years and plastic surgeons are desperate to stop it.

Vinny Ohh, a makeup artist and part-time male model from Los Angeles, California, has so far invested over $50,000 into 110 cosmetic procedures in an effort to turn himself into an asexual alien.

People have many reasons for turning to plastic surgery, but becoming an alien is definitely not the most common one. Vinny Ohh claims that he doesn’t identify as either male or female and this ongoing process of transforming into an alien being is meant to mirror how he feels inside. He began his unusual project at age 17, when he got his first lip fillers, followed by two rhinoplasties, several cheeks and brow bone fillers, and many more after that. But the most extreme procedures are yet to come, as Vinny plans to spend $160,000 having his genitalia, nipples and bellybutton removed and his forehead realigned.

Bryan Ray, a 31-year-old man from Los Angeles, California, is so obsessed with pop superstar Britney Spears that he has spent $80,000 over the last 14 years to look like her.

Ray says he knew there’s was something special about Britney the first time he saw her. The look, her voice and her choreography were “the perfect package” for him and he knew he wanted to be like her. So at age 17, when the dentist designing his veneers asked him which celebrity smile he wanted to base his on, he answered almost instantly. But that was only the beginning of Ray’s transformation, as over the last 14 years, he has had over 90 cosmetic surgeries to make himself look more like his idol.

“So many people refer to me as ‘Britney’ and for a very long time friends have greeted me with the infamous quote ‘It’s Britney, bitch!’ from her song ‘Gimme More’, which I absolutely love,” Bryan proudly says. “Britney will always be one of my biggest inspirations. I love that she was the biggest star in the world, went through an incredibly hard time and came out on top.”

Jack Ma, founder of internet giant Alibaba Group, has one of the most recognized faces in China, but he’s not exactly famous for his good looks. Still, that hasn’t stopped on young entrepreneur from spending a small fortune on plastic surgery just so he could look more like the popular billionaire.

Huang Jian, a young man in Shenzhen, claims that he has so far spent around one million yuan ($145,000) on facial plastic surgery, in an effort to make himself look more like Jack Ma. The procedures were done in South Korea, Asia’s premier destination for extreme plastic surgery. Jian says that he is a big fan of China’s second richest man and is undergoing this extreme makeover in the hopes of one day meeting his idol.

A Filipino teen who once paid just 500 pesos ($10.74) for cosmetic procedures on his nose and chin has been regretting his decision ever since, as the intervention left him disfigured.

Ever since he was 16 years old, Ellowe Alviso had been using his good looks as a source of income, by landing various modelling jobs. About three years ago, he decided to increase his chances of being selected for modelling gigs by enhancing his facial features. However, he also wanted to save some money, so instead of going to a certified plastic surgery clinic, he got in touch with Kasheca Magallanes, a transgender nurse who was allegedly well-versed in cosmetic procedures. She agreed to work on his face for just 500 Philippine Pesos, which was apparently too good an offer to pass up. Unfortunately, Ellowe would live to regret his decision.

James Holt, from Bury, England, has so far spent £21,000 ($27,500) on cosmetic procedures in an effort to copy the most striking features of the Kardashian sisters and achieve a fake look.

22-year-old Holt says he has been planning to alter his body from a very young age, when he became obsessed with looking like the models on Page 3 of English tabloids. At age 17, he booked his first cosmetic procedures at a local salon – a bout of Botox shots to his forehead and some lip injections. He had just one milliliter of liquid injected into his lips, but after that failed to draw the attention of his colleagues when he went to school the next day he decided to go back for more.

“I went to college the next day expecting everyone to be amazed and to comment on my lips, but no one said anything,” he recalls. “I went back the next morning and had another 1.5ml put in, but still no one noticed. By the end of the week I had 6ml and everyone said it looked amazing. I loved my look. It was big and juicy and it was just what I wanted.” His joy didn’t last very long, as small bubbles soon appeared on his swollen upper lip, and when liquid started to leak out of it, James was rushed to a clinic in Bury to fix his damaged lips.

A couple from France are so obsessed with dolls that they’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to transform themselves into real-life Ken and Barbie. They’ve had over 15 procedures between them so far and plan to keep going until they achieve perfect doll-like appearances. And to complete the effect, they’re legally changing their names to ‘Ken’ and ‘Doll’!

Anastasia Reskoss, 20, and Quentin Dehar, 23, met at a boat party in 2013, and they quickly bonded over their fondness for the plastic lives of dolls. “When I’d laid eyes on Quentin for the first time, I knew that I’d found the love of my life,” Anastasia said. “Quentin walked over to me and said: ‘I’ve found the Barbie to my Ken.’ It was so straightforward. We both knew we had met a partner who was going to enable us to become the Ken and Barbie we had always dreamed of being.”

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